Movie appeal

Primeval: New World

Primeval: New World Blu-ray delivers great video and superb audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release

No synopsis for Primeval: New World.

For more about Primeval: New World and the Primeval: New World Blu-ray release, see Primeval: New World Blu-ray Review published by Jeffrey Kauffman on October 21, 2013 where this Blu-ray release scored 2.5 out of 5.

Primeval: New World Blu-ray Review

Jurassic Pork.

That an old saying that goes "there's nothing new under the sun" and that must be doubly true of Primeval: New
World, a joint British-Canadian series that, like its focal dinosaurs, has gone extinct (though admittedly much
faster than the actual creatures did). Based on the British series Primeval, which itself was a kind of warmed over Jurassic Park meets Torchwood hybrid, Primeval: New World is a spin-off without much of a reason to exist, courtesy of being a Xerox copy
of an already tepid enterprise which deals mostly with dinosaurs traveling through space-time portals called "anomalies"
to wreak havoc on present day Vancouver, B.C. You've seen it all before, and in fact once you've seen one or two
episodes of Primeval: New World, you've really seen it all before, as this series follows a depressingly
rote formula that basically sees much the same storyline playing out again. . .and again. . .and again. Human fascination
with dinosaurs seems to be almost a genetic predisposition—I can still remember to this day being carted off on a family
vacation to the Southern Utah burg of Vernal to gaze in awe at the gigantic fossil of a near complete dinosaur encased
in a huge rock wall behind a protective plate of Plexiglas. That inbred fascination would seem to give both
Primeval and its Canadian sibling the sort of built in interest factor to carry it through any potential missteps, but
Primeval: New World is especially predictable, even more so than the original series. (It should be noted that
my colleague Ken Brown, who reviewed the Blu-ray edition of Primeval's fourth and fifth seasons (called "series" by
the Brits) evidently thinks more highly of the show than I do.) There are hints of a deeper X Files-esque
mythology peeking out from beneath Primeval: New World's pretty bland covers, but perhaps because the show
was axed unceremoniously after its sole season, very few of those elements really are developed to the point where
they become integral to the plot, let alone intriguing enough to warrant much interest.

Primeval: New World starts plying its clichés right off the bat, with a technique which will become a recurring
trope
in the series—innocent victims running smack dab into some kind of prehistoric monster and perishing in the ensuing
fray.
Soon enough we're introduced to hunky but emotionally devastated inventor Evan Cross (Niall Matter), whose own wife
perished years ago when one of those nasty dinosaurs showed up unexpectedly in his top secret lab. (The series never
really satisfyingly explains this particular element and the audience is just left to accept it on its own terms.) Cross has
somewhat muddled memories of this trauma, due perhaps to the shock of it all, but in a reference to the original
Primeval, he does recall being saved by an ARC paratrooper, an individual he has subsequently put on
deep
freeze in the top top secret part of his lab. This is one of many actually tantalizing situations that Primeval:
New
World never fully exploits, again perhaps because of its early demise, though there are some revelations part way
through this season
which cast light on the frozen guy's relationship to one major character.

Cross has secretly been trying to document the sporadic appearances of the so-called anomalies, thinking they're just
some kind of weird magnetic phenomena (speaking of which, someone better give this show's writers a quick tutorial on
the difference between phenomenon and phenomena, as they incorrectly use the former when they really want
the latter on at least a couple of occasions). Cross quickly becomes aware there are nasty creatures showing up,
especially when (in yet another predictable turn of events where the character might as well have been wearing a
Star Trek red shirt) his elderly partner is mauled to death. The first two episodes detail Cross putting together a
team to track down the prehistoric beasts. This gaggle of high tech wizards includes his corporation's CFO Angelika
Finch (Miranda Frigon), who helps with logistics; a local policewoman named Dylan Weir (Sara Canning), whose expertise
is in tracking predators like bears (but who quickly is able to transfer her talents to dinosaurs); Toby Nance (Crystal
Lowe), a tech head who sets up a huge array of magnetometers to trace where the anomalies occur; Mac Rendell
(Danny Rahim), a hotshot motorcycle rider whom Cross "promotes" to handle some of the team's weaponry; and, in the
series' most obvious tip of the hat to The X Files, a nerdy government employee named Ken Leeds (Geoff
Gustafson), who in fact might as well be named Fox Mulder.

One kind of funny aspect to Primeval: New World is the crossover of the character of Connor Temple (Andrew-
Lee Potts) from
Primeval in bookending episodes in this season. For fans of the original series, this will be an amusing little
sidebar, but for those
who aren't aware of the tie-in, Temple actually seems to be a villain, at least in the series' premiere episode,
where he's patently
shifty and a little sketchy looking.

The series does start to play with some time travel paradoxes in relatively entertaining ways as the first season comes
to a close, with the
threat of the present timeline changing more than a mere possibility. This aspect of the series actually may have
turned out to have
been actually more interesting than the "monster of the week" approach Primeval: New World opted for. The
production here is
fairly handsome, though some of the CGI is occasionally less than completely convincing. Primeval: New World
is a series that may
have come into its own—even if that "own" was patently derivative—had it been able to last a bit longer. As it stands,
it's just the fossil of a
concept, neither particularly memorable nor especially exciting.

Primeval: New World is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Entertainment One with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in
1.78:1. Much as with its parent series, Primeval: New World benefits from a very sleek and modern production
design which of course contrasts rather ironically with the CGI primordial beasts which populate each episode. Colors, while
tending to reflect the slate grays of Vancouver, B.C. much of the time, are nicely saturated and accurate looking. Fine detail
is often excellent, especially in close-ups of humans (see screenshot 9) and at least occasionally with regard to various CGI
elements (see the fur on the bird in screenshot 5). The CGI is at least somewhat variable, however. Some things look great
(including that bird), while others have a kind of amorphous, textureless quality that makes them seem more like they
belong in a cartoon. Overall, though, Primeval: New World features a nicely sharp and well defined image that
exhibits no real artifacting of any note on this Blu-ray release.

Primeval: New World's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix has a lot of opportunity to exploit great sound effects
and floorboard rumbling LFE, and in fact it dos so quite consistently. There are a ton of great sound effects dotting each and
every episode, whether it's the weird high caw of a prehistoric bird or the thundering footsteps of a predatory dinosaur.
Dialogue is very cleanly presented, and there's some nice attention paid to various ambient environments, where, for
example, the differences between "The Tank", the cavernous lab where Cross and his team work, and more confined
environments is readily noticeable. Surround activity is very smartly handled, especially when the series gets out of doors,
which it does quite often. Fidelity is excellent throughout this track and dynamic range is extremely wide.

Behind the Scenes. Ten of the thirteen episodes also have a brief making of featurette which tends to
focus on one element in
the episode. (The insert in the keepcase says there are thirteen of these featurettes, but try as I might, I could not find
anything on Episodes
11-13.)

Episode 1: The New World (1080p; 1:44)

Episode 2: Sisiutl (720p; 1:51)

Episode 3: Fear of Flying (720p; 2:28)

Episode 4: Angry Birds (720p; 2:22)

Episode 5: Undone (720p; 2:02)

Episode 6: Cleanup On Aisle Three (720p; 2:14)

Episode 7: Babes in the Woods (720p; 1:38)

Episode 8: Truth (720p; 2:34)

Episode 9: Breatkthrough (1080p; 2:37)

Episode 10: The Great Escape (720p; 2:42)

Meet the Cast (1080p; 5:59) features interviews with the cast (and crew). Most of the clips are from the first
episode.

Fans of the original Primeval may well find more to like in Primeval: New World than I frankly did, but I think
there's a reason this show failed to connect with audiences. It really offers nothing new for the Primeval faithful,
and in fact it falls into a formulaic rut so quickly that even aficionados may be as frustrated as I ultimately became. The
show's time travel elements actually provided more compelling interest (to me, anyway), but the show's early demise means
even those aspects are never fully explored or resolved. For those who did love Primeval: New World, at
least it looks and sounds great in high definition.

Primeval: New World Blu-ray, News and Updates

Entertainment One has announced the Blu-ray release of Primeval: New World - The Complete Series, the 13-episode Canadian spin-off of the five-season British sci-fi television series. New World stars Niall Matter, Sara Canning, Danny Rahim, Crystal Lowe, Miranda ...

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